The word “Catholic” comes from the Greek katholike, meaning “for all.” 

We all remember the great rallying cry of the French guards known as the “Musketeers”:  “All for one, and one for all!” That loyalty tied the Musketeers together. The safety, the life, the fate, of each individual guardsman depended upon the actions of his fellow soldiers. “All for one, and one for all” wasn’t just a motto. It was a lifeline.

In this week’s Romans text Paul reminds us that there are two sides to an “all for one” existence. For human beings, Paul recalls, “sin came into the world through one man . . . and so death spread to all, because all have sinned.” In other words the consequences of Adam’s “one for all” actions were universally deadly. Adam’s transgression, his sin of disobedience to God and loo…